Refuge Appeals Denied by Canada's Top Courts

Recently I learned that the C.B.C.s website referred a couple readers to this blog, so I thought that it would be good to continue posting interesting articles from their website. Recently I read the article Top court refuses to hear cases of U.S. deserters and decided that I would take a look around the Internet to see what others were saying. So far I have found two other articles on the topic. I found an article on both International Herald Tribune and Reuters.com.

All three articles are definitely interesting and have some suggestions for those deserters of the Iraq war to think about. I can understand why Canada is refusing to grant refuge status to the deserters in these three articles. In the cases mentioned, the applicants are facing court martial, dishonourable discharge and up to 5 years in jail. Those circumstances are hardly enough to grant political refuge, in my opinion. I can understand if they were facing the death penalty, I'm sure they would get refuge status here in Canada if that was the consequences of deserting their posts.

The recent denial by Canada's high courts has encouraged refuges of the Vietnam war to come forward with their stories. Back in the 1960's and 1970's Canada granted refuge status to deserters and draft dodgers from the Vietnam war, but now in 2007, the world is facing different challenges. Not only is there a war in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan. Canada has troops in Afghanistan helping to rebuild and fend off any Taliban extremists. Now I'm not an expert in the challenges that face Afghanistan, but I am standing behind our troops that we have deployed there.

As for the recent deserters, if you didn't want to fight in Iraq, then why did you enlist? I know that it was possible to predict a war with Iraq before it happened, there were signs everywhere. Saddam Hussein was unyielding to Americas demand for United Nations inspectors to look for the illusive weapons of mass destruction, which did not turn up after Hussein's regime had been crushed.

To conclude this post, there are other options than applying for refuge status. Canada consists of many immigrants, not only refuges, but people from very far off places who are looking to build a better life here. There is a possibility of permanent residency for those trying to escape a tour in Iraq, at least this path hasn't been looked into yet. I'm sure that the Canadian economy would benefit from allowing U.S. citizens to apply for permanent residency. Not only would the economy benefit from U.S. ex-patriots, but also the Canadian society. Canada as a whole needs to grow, certain industries here in Canada would benefit exponentially but a surge in population. Well those are my thoughts, what are yours?

The other articles I found are:
Sanctuary closed to deserters
Runaway GIs find a changed Canada
and
U.S. deserters lose bid for Canada refugee status